Winward conquers GTWC Europe race at Monza

Despite the multiple models that circulated in the top 5 positions of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race at Monza, at the top of the pile it was mostly Mercedes domination, with the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 making the win possible with strategy and pace, and more importantly, good timing.
 
It was a front row covered by Mercedes versus a Lamborghini second row and a McLaren third row, but with the clock running it was a different story as the No. 17 Getspeed Mercedes was followed by the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini, while the No. 48 Winward Mercedes fell to third while the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren was standing firm in fourth, all before the Safety Car was called, because just like in the virtual Monza in any simulator, it’s hard to make more than 50 cars behave at the famous first chicane, with two cars visiting the barriers due to contact with only seconds of racing.
 
With the No. 611 Nordique Mercedes being thrown in the gravel of the first Lesmo, more neutralization was needed, and with this, nearly half an hour was lost, and with Mirko Bortolotti apparently on cold reflexes, Dean MacDonald jumped on the opportunity and became third with the No. 58, isolating himself more as the Gold Cup leader as the No. 111 CSA McLaren was only in eleventh overall and the No. 33 Verstappen Aston Martin was only thirteenth, although their order was swapped while they were dropping down the overall positions.
 
With multiple cars having trouble or being stuck in the gravel right when the first pit cycle was in progress, the order was affected in favor of the No. 48 Winward Mercedes, with the broken pace of the race throwing the No. 17 to third while the No. 7 Comtoyou Aston Martin rose to second and the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren took the fourth place of the sister No. 58 car, which was naturally falling down the table, although still holding the second place in the Gold Cup whilt the No. 777 Al Manar WRT BMW was the new class leader, with the top Silver Cup contenders and a bunch of the Pro Cup field separating the Gold Cup cars.
 
Eventually, the No. 7 lost ground to the No. 17 and the No. 59, but it was for nothing with both cars dealing for a long time with traffic, and even though the No. 17 was doing longer stints, the No. 48 was playing the same game, and the final stop with 47 minutes to go didn’t change the situation. To make matters worse, the No. 17 had to slow down right after leaving the pits as the left front tire wasn’t attached and was rubbing the bodywork, and with Luca Stolz citing safety concerns over the radio, the car was parked after the second Lesmo.
 
With the No. 17 retired, the No. 59 was the second placed car at the moment, but a 24 second gap kept the No. 48 safe for the remainder half an hour, and although there were some neutralizations, none of them evolved to a Safety Car, which preserved the gap in favor of the No. 48 Winward Mercedes and naturally the race win.
 
GTWC Europe - Monza race results
 
The No. 777 Al Manar WRT BMW stood in control of the Gold Cup since the moment the class order was flipped, finishing the race in the overall top 5. The Silver Cup had a battle to the line, with the No. 42 Century BMW narrowly beating the No. 30 WRT BMW, and in the Bronze Cup, the No. 97 Rutronik Porsche has a sligthly comfortable victory, with cars from other classes keeping it away from the No. 81 Winward Mercedes.
 
The trio van der Linde/de Wilde/Weerts (No. 32) still has the Endurance Cup lead with 43 points, but the trio Cairoli/Engel/Auer (No. 48) is just two points behind, while Thiim/Drudi/Sorensen (No. 7) is the best outsider with 27 points, like Ayhançan Güven.
 
Now all attentions will turn to Belgium, because the jewel of the SRO calendar, the 24 Hours of Spa, is the next round of the Endurance Cup season, set for 28 and 29 June.
 
PHOTO: SRO/JEP